Impinj acquires Intel's RFID assets

Intel’s New Business Initiatives (NBI) incubator helped develop the award-winning R1000 RFID reader chip, which integrates onto a single chip 90 percent of the components required for a reader radio; Impinj acquires the R1000 reader chip

Important business news on the RFID front. Leading UHF Gen 2 radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions provider Impinj, based in Seattle, has acquired the RFID assets from Intel Corporation, a business created by Intel’s New Business Initiatives (NBI) incubator and which developed the award-winning R1000 RFID reader chip. Financial terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed. The acquisition of Intel assets further enhances Impinj’s position in the RFID market by adding a proven, high-performance, integrated reader radio chip to the Impinj family of UHF Gen 2 RFID products. For developers of UHFRFID readers and reader-modules, the R1000 chip provides high levels of design flexibility, integrating onto a single chip 90 percent of the components required for a reader radio. The R1000 chip enables all reader form factors — fixed, mobile, embedded, and others — in applications across numerous vertical markets, including supply chain management, asset tracking, authentication and access control.

“This acquisition is a huge step for Impinj, accelerating our drive to deliver the highest performance, most cost effective RFID products available from any vendor anywhere,” said William Colleran, Ph.D., president and CEO of Impinj. “Adding the R1000 reader chip to Impinj’s market-leading portfolio of tag chips and fixed-reader products allows us to deliver exceptional price-performance and enable a new category of customers who are developing their own game-changing products based upon Impinj technology.”